The present invention relates to an apparatus for the mechanical cleaning of the interdental spaces by dental floss comprising an outer holder containing a delivery reel of the fresh dental floss and a take-up reel of the worn-out dental floss, means for reciprocating the operating length of the dental floss to be positioned within the mouth in the interdental spaces, and means provided with friction device for rotating the delivery and take-up reels as well as the driving wheels transmitting the movement of the drive means to the delivery and take-up reels, an outside case including the drive means for the above-mentioned reciprocation and the power supply battery, a support base for the rest and battery recharge positions of the holder and the drive case, respectively, also including one or more sockets for spare holders.
As known, it is very stringent to keep accurately clean the interdental spaces for the purpose of prevention of tooth decays and gum diseases. Presently, there are available on the market dental flosses that are inserted in each interdental space to perform their cleaning action and then are manually reciprocated by pulling and releasing a length of floss stretched between the hands of the user. There are also available fork frames to be manually moved, the dental floss being stretched between the two prongs of the fork like a hacksaw blade.
Beside being effective only if used carefully and patiently, such cleaning systems are not only unable to guarantee a rational use of the dental floss, some lengths of which are not conveniently used, but also are not easily or even laborious to use.
On the other hand, as far as the cleaning of teeth and gums is concerned, the problems connected to the use of the toothbrush, that is not satisfactory for the same reasons of not easy or even laborious use, have been solved to a great extent by the commercially available motor-driven toothbrushes. Therefore the applicant has sought to provide a motor-driven apparatus for the rational use of a dental floss for cleaning the interdental spaces so that the problems due to the manual use thereof are avoided.
To this end, the applicant has conceived an apparatus comprising an active unit consisting of a holder provided with a small-size fork-shaped head to be put into the oral cavity carrying a length of dental floss between its prongs, and mechanical means capable both of reciprocating such length of dental floss in the interdental spaces and traversing it little by little so that the worn-out length thereof, that is wound about a take-up reel, is little by little replaced by a length of fresh dental floss from a delivery reel while it is used.
The new features of the apparatus according to the invention are the use of a drive unit separated from the holder under rest conditions and quickly connected for the operation, and the use of non-rotatable guide members of the dental floss which allow a fork having prongs with reduced thickness comparable with the thickness of the manually operated forks to be used. Such fork allows also the innermost interdental spaces to be easily reached. In addition, the two reels for the delivery of the fresh dental floss and the take-up of the worn-out dental floss having a newly designed friction device are located side by side, which allows both the thickness of the holder to be reduced and the fresh length of dental floss to be separated from the worn-out length of dental floss, as recommended for hygiene purposes.